A former advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump is planning to open a school for populist activists. Steve Bannon wants to set up the training center at a monastery in Italy. However, the Italian government is now seeking to stop the plan. Bannon’s idea is to teach students how to defend the West’s Judeo-Christian traditions against opposition from the political left. When he announced the plan, Bannon called it a “gladiator school;” in other words, a school for warriors. Helping Bannon is Benjamin Harnwell of Britain. Harnwell told VOA, “We are going to rip out everything of a person that is of this world and throw it away.” The goal is to turn students into single-minded activists, he added. To house their school, Harnwell and Bannon have secured temporary ownership of the 800-year-old Trisulti Charterhouse. The monastery is in the mountains about 70 kilometers east of Rome.